Dear Miss Mac,

Dear Miss Mac,

You my angel face, are two today.  Yes!  Two years old.  And your mama is shocked at how the time has flown.  I was relieved when we celebrated your first year.  A year filled with love and learning, but also a tough year for mom, trying to wrangle you and your sister.  I was also still reeling from your "birth day".  It still gets me, at the oddest times, but it's not so heavy on my heart anymore.  These days, the heaviness is from watching my shorty, angel face, grow up all too quickly.  You are starting to look like a toddler (finally), but I hate to admit that I'm going to miss having a baby around.


Angel Face, you are a doll.  You make mama smile even on foggy days.  You are funny just like your daddy and can lighten any situation.  Your facial expressions are more than words.  You can give a dirty look better than any Hernandez I know.  Your smile melts any heart, especially your daddy who is challenged with taking anything away from you, and your mama who tries to be tough, but just can't follow through.


I want you to know that I find it simply amazing that you are talking.  A lot.  You get that from me.  Once you got started a few months back, you haven't stopped.  I'm amazed that you know the color purple.  You ask "where's daddee" and "daddees wok".  I love that you ask for "eye-sh tee" and "cocos", which translates into iced tea and chocolate.  I know breakfast of champions, but you know what you like.  I love that you call for your
"mon-eee" (grandma) and your "papa" (great grandpa), and they love that you ask for them.

I love that you still love Yo Gabba Gabba, you ask for "dabba dabs" and point to the tv.  You sing, "dee dee Do Do" for Dora, and "go go dogo" for Diego.  You also sing and babble to yourself in your own Mac language, and I can hear you from other rooms.  When I check on you I find you are rocking your "babies" or collecting your "friends", like Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Brobee. 



And sometimes, when you forget we are listening, you will go ahead and sing your "hoppy" song.  Listening to you sing, You are my sunshine, in your own way, nailing the melody like you have sung it since birth, squeezes my full heart.  The only word I recognize is "hoppy", and it makes me happy too.  I'm so glad Papa was able to teach it to you, and that you love him and this song so much. 




I'm so incredibly glad that I had you.  I'm so happy that I let go, and took the road less traveled.  Had I played it safe, I would have never known the actual joy of motherhood.  You also gave me a gift only you could give, a second chance to be the kind of mom I wanted to be.  A chance to really feel like a good mother, a worthy mother.  Thank you.  Thank you for all the second chances you have blessed me with.  Thank you for all the midnight feedings I didn't cry through.  Thank you for all the 3 am diaper changes where I sang to you, instead of acted like a zombie.  Thank you for teaching me the fine art of being myself and being a mom.


So today you are two.  And we will have cake and ice cream.  We will sing and open gifts and get pedicures (ok, that's mostly for me).  We will say a prayer of thanks for this life.  This life that is so precious and blessed.  It's funny, but mom thought she had it all. 
Then she had you...


Happy Birthday Miss Mac... And many more.  Mama loves you, more than Starbucks.